A 17-year-old Jewish student at the Jewish Free School (JFS) school in London was attacked on Thursday outside the school grounds by two unknown teenagers, according to local media.
The teenagers had been having a heated exchange on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Jewish Chronicle, when one of the unknown attackers punched the Jewish student. The assault was witnessed by the school’s security guard, who was unable to intervene in the attack in time. Both attackers were able to escape.
The headteacher of JFS, Dr. David Moody, said in a statement that only one security guard had been present because “the incident occurred before the end of school." The 17-year-old was "leaving earlier because of the Year 13 mock examinations,” which meant that the same protections were not in place.
Moody continued to state, according to the JC, that the school will have multiple security guards from 3 PM going forward, which is when the nearby Kingsbury High School releases its students. It is not stated or confirmed that the attackers were from Kingsbury High.
“Kingsbury High have been extremely supportive and have made a number of long-term suspensions where anyone has used antisemitic language or physical aggression,” Moody said. “It sadly remains the case that a very small number of very small-minded people wish to use what is happening in Israel and Gaza as an excuse to perpetuate their desire to cause trouble. To that end, I spoke with the Inspector for Brent Schools yesterday and they have tasked 12 officers with overseeing the security of JFS, in addition to extra support to be provided by the British Transport Police. They are taking these incidents very seriously.”
A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust, a charity which safeguards Jews in the United Kingdom, said “This was a distressing assault in which a Jewish student was singled out and attacked, and the link between extreme anti-Israel hatred and anti-Jewish violence was made clear by his attackers. We are working with the police and JFS security to provide increased protection for JFS students when they leave school each day.”
Condemning the incident
Campaign Against Antisemitism condemned the incident on X, and wrote: “If your response to events occurring thousands of miles away is to attack Jewish children in Britain, then you have a problem with Jews.
“More than six in ten British Jews have either personally experienced or witnessed an antisemitic incident since 7th October or know somebody who has, according to our latest polling.”
A seventeen-year-old student from JFS, a Jewish school in London, was reportedly physically attacked by two teenagers yesterday.The perpetrators apparently tried to force him to say “Free Palestine” before punching him.If your response to events occurring thousands of miles… pic.twitter.com/6XMidjmEdx
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) January 5, 2024
Gary Mond, Chairman of the National Jewish Assembly, told the Jerusalem Post that this was yet another horrendous example of how Jew hatred had become endemic in Britain.
He added "The frequency of attacks such as this calls into question, to an increasing extent, whether the Jewish community, as a whole, still feels safe in the UK. While our CST makes every effort to protect us, they and the police are fighting a rising tide of antisemitism. The sources are the political neo-Nazi far-right, the woke and intolerant political left, and also, importantly, Islamist fundamentalism. There needs to be a real debate about the solutions."